The invention relates to a multi-plate friction clutch which is actuated by a pressure medium, for example oil pressure, having an inner plate carrier and an outer plate carrier, for motor vehicles.
Multi-plate friction clutches of this kind are known in many different forms and for a wide range of uses. In most forms, the controllable pressure medium engages the multi-plate friction clutch against the effect of a mechanical spring force, while in other forms the controllable pressure medium disengages the clutch, for safety reasons.
There has been proposed multi-plate friction clutch, together with the associate control means, which while being of relatively low additional cost, affords the possibility, in dependence on slip of the normally driven wheels relative to the wheels which are not normally driven, for the drive means thereof to be cut in automatically in such a way that either only the normally driven wheels or the normally driven wheels and in addition the wheels which are not driven normally are coupled to the drive engine.
The additional free-wheel clutches which were previously proposed for this purpose require a considerable degree of additional cost and have not proved fully successful in practice, because they must be locked for reverse movement, by a further additional means, which requires further handles or attention on the part of the driver, which should no longer be necessary by virtue of a reliable automatic mechanism.